Monday's Clarion-Ledger features a pair of articles on art exhibits that have been organized and timed to appear with the IBC, including an
exhibit from the New York Public Library, "Classic Black," at the Smith Robertson Museum & Cultural Center in Jackson; and a piece on the art exhibits located in the Thalia Mara Center lobby:

Monday, June 19 began with a media briefing at the Jackson Clarion-Ledger Community Room. IBC Executive Director Sue Lobrano welcomed the assembled media guests and commented how much she enjoys the tradition of the IBC Opening Ceremony, especially the Parade of Nations; so touchingly heartfelt with such youth and hope participating in the pageantry. On the choice of Ballet Hispanico as the featured company for the ceremony, she indicated that the IBC wants a company with dancers who will provide a contrast to the classical competition and that Ballet Hispanico delivered on that promise. She could not say enough to do justice to Danny Tidwell and she talked about seeing Rolando Sarabia as a scrawny 15 year old competitor in 1998; now, eight years later, he is no longer scrawny and turns "like an ice skater."

Jury chairman Bruce Marks announced that this is his first time at the Jackson IBC as a grandfather. He has judged IBCs in Moscow, Helsinki, Nagoya and Seoul (an annual event). Serving on a jury is always a difficult assignment. Finland's Doris Laine is the only member of the jury to have served since the Jackson IBC's inception. There are many new people on the jury. He noted with concern that there has been a precipitous decline in the number of representative competitors from Eastern Europe since the days of the Soviet bloc. The IBC is working on enhancing the inducements for Eastern European representation. He is quite pleased at the level of competitors, although he always has a nagging concern that they will not be what people are expecting. In response to the slings and arrows of those dance critics who enjoy putting down competitions, Marks believes that the goal of competitions is to reward artistry. He stated his awareness that there is today, in every art form, an increasing emphasis on quantifiable results. The purpose of the IBC is to reward artists. He takes strong exception to holding up competitions as being in bad taste as well as irrelevant and unnecessary. He cited Malakhov and Carreno as examples of great artists whose careers have been helped by their participation in competitions. The last Grand Prix winner at Jackson was Johann Kobborg, a success at both Royal Danish Ballet and now earning accolades at the Royal Ballet, whom he described as "far from a pyrotechnician." Bruce Simpson (Louisville Ballet) and Simon Dow (Ballet of Western Australia, formerly with Boston Ballet) are examples of competition winners of extraordinary ability who also possess great intellectual ability. The IBC jurors always write at least one or two lines to every competitor. It is important to give this to the competitors in return for their effort. The process is the real prize of the competition. Regarding the Jackson IBC, he counts it as a point of pride to show the world who we are in the USA and what we can be -- this is his political and diplomatic subtext. Regarding evaluation sessions with competitors, only the competitors are allowed in these sessions with the evaluators, who synthesize the numeric ratings and comments and present the results to the competitors. This year's evaluators are Wes Chapman (Alabama Ballet), Christopher Fleming (Rock School), and Janie Parker (Houston Ballet; 1982 gold medalist).

This year, the IBC has 98 competitors representing 24 countries. Marks' wish is to find important talents as a result of the process. He reminded the assembled media that the 1976 gold medalist in Varna was Fernando Bujones.

In response to a query about the new floor, Sue Lobrano revealed that the Thalia Mara stage is wood over concrete -- prime for injuries. Harlequin has donated a new, sprung floor and is paying for transportation and storage until the next IBC in 2010.

Concerning repertoire, Marks opined that at one time he favored a compulsory variation (perhaps something Bournonville) that every competitor would be required to learn from a video tape. However, there are problems with this approach as well as with the current approach, which, this year, seems that we are scheduled to see some 82 different versions of "Paquita" variations. The jury and the audience can recognize something special in a competitor within the first 20 seconds of their performance. As for dancers taking a fall, Marks supports this because it means that dancers are taking chances, which is what dancers should do. Katherine Healy in 1982 fell off pointe but still earned the silver medal. Advancing from one round to the next requires a cumulative number of points; approximately half of the Round I competitors will move to Round II. All competitors are invited to stay for the full conference. Very few competitions have a school as part of the competition as does the Jackson IBC. The IBC wants to keep all 98 competitors involved in the process. To that end, Dennis Nahat will direct a choreography workshop with a piece to be presented by the non-advancing competitors at the Closing Ceremony. Also, on Sunday, June 25 at 2:00 p.m. at the Belhaven College Center, there will be a showcase of contemporary choreography to be presented by the non-advancing competitors -- admission is free. This showcase is named for Edward Stierle, a junior gold medalist in 1986 who was hired by Robert Joffrey and unfortunately passed away in 1991.

A final question was posed regarding the IBC Flame. Sue Lobrano pointed out that the Flame is a gift from Regional Dance America, which will also use it during their regional festival in Jackson.

Regarding the Jackson IBC, he counts it as a point of pride to show the world who we are in the USA and what we can be -- this is his political and diplomatic subtext.

Interesting you should pick up on this, Francis. In two weeks I am off to Bytom Festival in Poland where there is a strong US presence in performance, teaching and lecturing, presenting a very positive face of US culture. The US arts and those involved are doing great service in showing "what can be".

Christopher Fleming (accompanied by Steven Mitchell) gave a fabulous, energetic and quick-moving class. While perhaps not entirely acurate, I'd classify it under the Balanchine-influenced category. Lots of tendus, building to, as Mr. Fleming himself said, those "...at the speed of light." Quite a bit of time devoted to center work, beginning right away with a turning combination (rélevé into attitude, tombé pas de boureé to fourth, pirouettes in attitude, pas de boureé en tournant, repeat).

It was interesting to observe the cultural differences amongst the dancers. Some readily embraced all the combinations, a few were lost, some tried what was new to them, while others did what was familiar or what they needed to do.

Some great big jump combinations. Allowed time for fouettés -- only 16! -- for the women and tours in second for the men. Concluded with entrechat quatre (4) relevé to sous-sus and entrechat six for the women and tours on l'air for the men.

And at the presentation by tutu.com, who should I run into but two of my colleagues from a former life when I was AD of Chattanooga Ballet, Monica Coulter and Amy Harris. I'm thrilled to see them and to catch up after more than 15 years. Both are here for the teachers' portion of the IBC.

Highlights of Session 3: Eighteen year old Jun Tanabe, who displayed wonderful elevation, batterie, alignment, ballon and soft landings; Sixteen year old Francesca Dugarte, a product of Nina Novak's school in Caracas, in a performance that was bright, clear, demonstrated near perfect alignment, with a sequence of ten double pirouttes on the diagonal, lovely and light toe hops, fleet footed petit allegro and a strong, polished finish to all her movements; the fearless fifteen year old Jeffrey Cirio who charmed the audience with his abundant energy, great elevation, nice landings and excellent use of stage space; and Alexandr Buber with his noncompeting partner Miki Watanabe in a delightfully refreshing performance of the pas de deux from "Flower Festival in Genzano," displaying fine elevation, excellent and musical ballon and a strong and relaxed finish.

In response to a query about French (and Belgian) performers, the sole French representative, Jonathan Chmelensky had mixed success in his "Flames of Paris" variation, suffering by comparison with the stellar performance that immediately preceded his, as well as by the jaw dropping performance by Jeffrey Cirio in the same variation. His most outstanding moment was his display of a very nice cambre back in his "Paquita" variation. My impressions notwithstanding, advancement to the next round is a matter of accumulating seven points in the aggregate, so there is always the possibility of another round with a different programming draw.

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The evening began with a series of thunderstorms similar to that of the Saturday Opening Ceremony. A drenching downpour set in shortly after 5:00 p.m. and tapered toward 6:30, only to begin again after the 7:30 p.m. curtain. In an especially quiet moment during one of the Peasant pas de deux performed during the first half of the program, a monstrous peal of thunder boomed through the auditorium, sounding much as I would imagine a bomb dropping in close proximity. The performers continued without displaying so much as a momentary loss of composure.

Among the Juniors, the Peasant pas de deux with Amy Marie Briones and noncompeting partner Jekyns Pelaez was a refreshing way to begin the program, Briones displaying nice ballon, balance and jetes. In the second half of the program, the "Esmeralda" pas de deux of Caitlin Valentine and noncompeting partner Christopher Ellis showed a very nice partnership in the adage, a solid 6:00 extension with nary a wobble from Valentine; and a most unusual, Bolshoi-like "Don Quixote" pas de deux from Kiev-based Natalia Domracheva and Viktor Ishchuk, who announced themselves with sharp articulation, fast turns, midair splits and a solid 32 fouettes.

The evening led off with a pair of good performances from the Junior division. Christine Shevchenko displayed nice turns and good alignment in her Paquita variation and Sae-eun Park took advantage of a slow tempo to display her long line, extension and good alignment. A standout performance was delivered by Avetik Karapetyan in solos from Don Quixote and Swan Lake, Act III. Avetik has an elegant, regal bearing. His excellent and secure alignment allows him to execute embellished turns and stop on a dime; his landings are smooth, inaudible and absolutely nailed into the stage; a superb performance. Emily Bromberg and Andrew Skeels concluded the program with a charming Blue Bird pas de deux, free of errors and omissions.

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